His grandfather continued. "I do not take this lightly. I will be honest in saying that when I first realized Matt was the champion, I prayed that the runes would tell me I was mistaken. But I have come to realize that this is right. The boy is strong and he is good, and he is deserving of this honor. That is how I must see this. My grandson is being honored in the highest fashion, and he will do us proud, and he will take his place in the halls of Valhalla as a champion with the long-dead gods. As a hero. Our hero."

Matt stumbled away from the door.

They expect me to die. They want the ice age to come, the world to end. I'm not their champion. I'm their sacrifice.

Of course I am. That's why they chose me. Because I'm guaranteed to screw this up.

He'd been planning to tell Granddad exactly that: You made a mistake. But there'd been a little bit of him that hoped he really was the champion, that he'd finally show his family and everyone else- The little girl took his hand and tugged him across the room, and he was so dazed, he just followed. When they were at the door, she whispered, "You seek Odin."

Odin? Why would I...?

Because Odin was the leader of the gods. The most powerful of them all. The father of Thor.

He stared at the little girl. Who was she? What was she? Not just a little girl-he was sure of that now.

"Odin will tell me how to fix this, right?" Matt said. "He'll tell me how to defeat the Midgard Serpent and survive."

Again, she looked confused. "I do not know. That is to come. That is not now. I know only-"

"You only know what is now. Yeah, I got that the first..." His gaze shifted to the mosaic on his left. A scene of Thor asking the Norns for advice.

The Norns. Three women who knew the destiny of gods and humans. In a lot of the old stories, Future was the youngest. But their tradition-and the mosaic-followed one from the old sagas. The oldest was Past. Then came Future. And finally, the youngest Norn-Present.

He turned to the little girl, and his heart started thumping again. By this point, he was pretty sure it was never going to beat at a normal rate again.

"Who are you?" he asked as the hairs on his neck prickled.

"You know."

"One of the Norns. Present."

She nodded. "I said you know."

"And you don't know anything except what's happening now. Or what should be happening now. So where do I get the rest?"

"From Future. She waits."

"Where will I find her?"

"I do not know. That is to come-"

"All right, all right. Where is she now?"

The little girl pointed. "Out there. She waits."

Matt followed her finger to the door. "Where exactly out there?"

No answer. He turned. The girl was gone.

This time when Matt walked into the fair, he still didn't notice the smells, the sights, the sounds, but only because he was focused on his task. Find the Norn.

Find the Norn? Are you crazy? A Norn? Like in the stories? That's all they are, you know. Stories.

Earlier, when he'd thought of fighting the serpent, he'd tried not to focus on what he believed. It was easy when they were old stories, like Noah's Ark. You could say, "Sure, that could happen." But then you thought about it, really thought about it, and said, "Seriously? One boat with two of every animal on Earth? How does that work?" It was easier to just not think about it. Accept it. That's what he'd done his whole life.

That's what he had to do now. Accept it. Believe it. He was looking for a Norn.

Which would be a lot easier if he had any clue what she looked like. The mosaic wasn't much help. In it, the youngest Norn had been about his age, and the only thing she had in common with the little girl who had actually appeared was her blond hair. Blond hair in Blackwell was as rare as fleas on a homeless mutt.

He weaved through the crowds. Normally, that would be easy. While people knew who he was, they wouldn't do more than nod or smile. Now Thorsens would stop mid-carnival-game to say something, and of course he had to be polite and respond.

With so many Thorsens talking to him, others noticed, and they said hi, too. Any other time, that would have been great. The center of attention. Can't argue with that, especially when you're usually only there if you've done something wrong. But right now, when he was on a mission, it was kind of inconvenient.

Finally, he spotted her. The Norn on the mosaic had been about his mom's age, but this girl didn't look older than Jake. She was dressed differently from the other girls at the fair, too. She wore a skirt of rough cloth, and her hair was piled up on top of her head in a heap of tiny braids. She sat on a bench, legs swinging as she watched kids on the merry-go-round.

So how did he know it was her? Because his amulet started vibrating. The same way it had right before he'd met the first Norn.

Still, he had to be sure. So he walked up as casually as he could and said, "Hey," but she only smiled and said, "Hello."

"Are you waiting for me?" he said.

She got that look of confusion, a mirror image of the little girl's. "I do not know. That is-"

"The present. You only know the future. Got it." And got the right girl, apparently. "Kind of feels like it should be Christmas, don't you think?"

She tilted her head, frowning.

"Scrooge? The ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future?" He shook his head when she continued to frown. "Never mind. Okay, so I should be looking for Odin, because he's going to tell me... what exactly?"

"How to defeat the Midgard Serpent."

Matt exhaled as relief fluttered through him. "And stop Ragnarok? So things don't need to happen the way they do in the myth, with all of us dying and the world ending?"

"Some parts cannot be changed. Some can. You must discover which is which."

"But you can foresee the future, right?"

"There are many futures. I cannot tell which will come to pass. You will try to change what the myth foretells. You will succeed in some parts and fail in others."

"Right. Except the whole die-defeating-the-serpent thing. I can definitely survive, despite what the myth says?"

"Yes," she said.

"And if I do, the world doesn't end?"

"It does not end, even if you fail," she said carefully. "However, almost all life on it will perish."

"Same thing. But if I defeat the serpent and survive, that doesn't happen, right?"

"Correct."

"Good. Now, where do I find him?" He paused again. "Is it really Odin? I mean, the gods died, didn't they? Did Odin survive?"

She smiled. "No, the gods are dead. The one you seek is like yourself: a descendant. He is Odin as you are Thor. Yet he is not Odin, as you are not Thor."

Which made perfect sense.

"So he's a kid then. Where is he?" Matt asked.

"I do not know. Where Odin is, that is present. I know only what is to come."

Matt exhaled. They really weren't making this easy. "I will find Odin, though. That's a guarantee, which means I don't need to look for him."

"You may find him, or you may not." She had a faraway look in her eyes as she spoke. "There is more than one future."

Great.

Before he could try another tactic, the Norn said, "This is the best future. This is the one we wish for you: that you will find Odin, and you will find the others; that you will fight, and you will win."

"The others? But they'll come here, right? The Thing is going to gather them up."

"They will gather possible champions, but they will not gather the right champions. That is your task."

"And, let me guess, you have no idea where I'll find anyone."

"That is how. I do not know how. Only-"

"That I will or won't," he interrupted. "Do you know how completely useless that is? I'm thirteen. I can't just hop in my car and let my magical god-descendant-finding GPS guide me."

She looked at Matt blankly.

"Can I get one clue?" he said. "A bread crumb to start me on the trail? An e-mail address, maybe?"

"E-mail...?"

"Anything. I'll do what you tell me, because while saving the world and all would be great, I'm not keen on the dying part, either. I'd like to live long enough to get out of middle school."

She nodded. "That would be wise."

"So, the other descendants. It'd be nice if I could find them all in Blackwell, but it's only Thor and Loki here, isn't it?"

"You will not find the others here. Around here, yes, but not here."

Matt tried to be patient as he asked, "Around here...? In the county? The state? The country? The continent?"

"In the place known as South Dakota."

At least she hadn't said "continent."

The air beside her shimmered, and the little girl took form again.

"I know where Loki is," the little girl said.

"Okay, that's great, but I don't need Loki. Sure, he's to be at Ragnarok, but he leads the other side."

"That is not the present," said the girl Norn.

"Okay so..." He turned to the older Norn. "Am I right that Loki-or his descendant-will lead the monsters?"

"Loki may, or he may not. That is up to you," she said.

"Meaning he could help us, which would sway the battle our way, so I need to get him on our side. Got it." He turned to the youngest. "Where is he?"

"Loki is there." She gestured.

Matt followed her hand to see Laurie and Fen standing in line for the Tilt-A-Whirl. Fen? No way.

"Right there. Now?" He pivoted to watch Fen and Laurie as they climbed into one of the red cars. "But you said there were other champions. Maybe you can find another one for Loki, because Fen is not ever, in a million years..."

He turned back and found he was talking to himself. The Norns had vanished.

"... going to help me with anything," he muttered.

EIGHT.

MATT.

"ALLIANCE"

Right after the Norns vanished, Cody and the others found him. While the last thing on Matt's mind was hanging out at the fair, right now, being part of a group might be the best thing. No one would bug him if he stayed with his friends, who also wouldn't really notice if he was quiet. He wasn't exactly loud at the best of times. He could just retreat into his thoughts. And he had a lot of thoughts to retreat into.

He had no idea what to do next. Apparently, he was supposed to buddy up with Fen. Which was not happening. Fen wanted nothing to do with any Thorsens, and Matt's family was worst of all-his dad had been responsible for putting Fen's father behind bars.